Finding Cyber Threats Fast

By Bonnie Feldkamp

Photography by Chrystal Scanlon

A person who attacks a network is like a virus that infects a human: It mutates. The difference? Motivation. One mutates for survival and the other mutates to steal or destroy important information that hackers want.

The current IT security industry focuses on preventative approach facing these attacks with appliances like firewalls and software along the lines of anti-virus. Behind these products sit IT teams that only the largest corporations can afford. And still, their approach compares to hand-washing to prevent viral infections.

The worst attacks still get through.

Chris Nyhuis, the owner of Cincinnati’s cyber firm Vigilant Technology Solutions, sees a problem with the preventative approach. When security finally detects a breach – whether it’s a verifiable breach or not – it takes a ridiculous amount of hours to chase down the information, verify the attack and then create updated software or tactics to block the next attack.

Meanwhile, the attacked company scrambles to contain the breach and protect the information already exposed. All the while the hacker is out there, somewhere, playing with the updated software they created, mutating tactics again and preparing their next attack. It’s impossible to stay ahead of the game. Standard software and firewalls can’t change fast enough. Companies can’t afford most security solutions. The best hackers will get through and usually go undetected for months.

But this is how Vigilant’s CyberDNA service differs. CyberDNA provides security monitoring as a service, bringing Vigilant’s patent-pending technology and their best in class analyst team, focusing on fast detection. Of course, this doesn’t mean that companies should ignore preventatives. In fact, by finding threats so fast (in minutes) Vigilant gives their customers information to help them customize their preventions, focused on each business’ unique vulnerabilities. They go above and beyond the rest of the industry, never storing any threat information in the Cloud, a decision that sets them apart in the industry. Once Vigilant establishes custom detection measures for a customer, their team provides full analysis of the network through the use of its patent-pending technology, ready to find threats and helping to stop them before damage can be done.

Nyhuis says that large companies often create vulnerabilities when they give outside network access to a vendor. For example, during a recent high profile attack on a major retailer, the HVAC company they hired was their weak spot. Many large retailers give HVAC companies network access so they can remotely monitor temperature fluctuations in the store. Nyhuis says that though a large corporation may have security solutions in place to protect their customers’ information, the vendors they use may not. Welcome, hackers.

Vigilant takes a holistic approach to service. They detect security risks, identify their sources, and solve them when they happen.

Here’s why: they are not selling hardware. They do not mark up appliances. Vigilant’s CyberDNA services are so specialized to a specific business’ needs that they can detect a potential threat in the fraction of the time it takes most organizations, and provide customers with an actionable plan to safeguard their sensitive information before it’s too late.

When a serious virus threatens a community, they need to do more than wash their hands and cover their mouths. They need a group of doctors who can see the infection fast and prescribe the medicine to eliminate it. That’s what Nyhuis and Vigilant are offering, and it couldn’t come at a better time.

Vigilant Technology Solutions is a privately held company, headquartered in Cincinnati. The company only protects U.S. assets and only hires American employees. Since its establishment in 2009, Vigilant has accumulated no long term debt and committed 25 percent of its profits to shielding and helping orphans around the world.

For more information, call 855.238.4445 or visit their website at www.vigilantnow.com.